Stanley T. Lewis was hired as an associate attorney at BHBC in June of 1980, immediately upon graduation from Pepperdine University School of Law. Stan was admitted to practice in Alaska and Arizona.
In the 1980s, most attorneys at the firm were general practitioners, not specialists. As a result, Stan’s early experience involved a plethora of civil and criminal litigation. As Stan’s practice evolved, he continued to represent clients in litigation and conducted more than fifty criminal and civil trials. He successfully represented clients before state and federal courts, appellate courts, bankruptcy courts, and administrative agencies. Additionally, he was committed to resolving legal disputes through mediation, arbitration, judicial settlement conferences, and other forms of alternative dispute resolution. Stan enjoyed working with clients directly and, as a result, he loved working in the area of personal injury and with injured maritime workers.
Stan had extensive construction litigation experience on behalf of subcontractors, general contractors, design professionals, owners, and public entities. He litigated claims of changed conditions, design flaw changes, fast track construction project claims, and “Little Miller Act” claims. He also assisted owners/financiers in repossessions and transfers due to the insolvency of the general contractor.
Stan was well known to the other attorneys in his office for his expertise in the area of employment law. He resolved numerous employment and labor claims on behalf of his clients, developing wide expertise in working with private investigators, economists, psychologists, accountants, physicians, claims consultants, business valuation experts, and vocational rehabilitation experts. Stan served as a guest speaker on issues relating to employment claims, employee policy and procedure manuals, alternative dispute resolution agreements, and workplace privacy.
In later years, Stan concentrated his practice in the areas of healthcare, business and corporate law, and complex litigation. He represented healthcare providers in matters involving all aspects of the client’s business, from formation and organization of corporate entities to purchases and sales of healthcare businesses, and everything in between (obtaining certificates of need, recruitment and discipline, contracts, medical device and drug liability, state and federal regulatory matters, covenants not to compete, Medicare and Medicaid compliance and audits, professional liability defense, and ERISA, among others).
Stan understood that the practice of law was primarily about the client. The first question that Stan asked in any matter was: “What does the client want to do?” Stan’s practice was the embodiment of the principal that the client came first, last, and always. The next question was the most effective way to accomplish that end. As a result, Stan’s clients respected him and admired his tenacity on their behalf. Many of Stan’s clients became his life-long friends.
Stan was recognized for his ability to ask probing questions and to map out a strategy for successfully resolving the clients’ needs. Stan was strong and determined, and sometimes a little stubborn, but he got the job done, no matter what it required in terms of time, energy, and talents. He knew the importance of building a team and surrounded himself with attorneys, assistants, and staff who could get the job done and deliver a successful result.
Ultimately, for those who knew him personally, Stan was most respected as a family person. There was never any doubt that his wife, Joan, his two boys, Adam and Alex, their families, and the grandkids were the reason he got up every morning.
Stan passed away on August 30, 2019, after a long and bitter battle with cancer. He was surrounded by his family at home in Arizona. He is greatly missed by all who knew him and his legacy and reputation at the firm will last for a very long time. His most lasting impact was just being who he was.