Drew Pollom
Bar Number: 49632
Born and raised in King County, I am a mossback1 through and through. Currently I am an associate at Ogden Murphy Wallace in the municipal and tribal practice groups. When I’m not working, my wife and I are often found working in our community garden, traveling the country, or cooking. An avid sports fan, I can also be found supporting all local teams, including most recently trying to learn hockey by watching the Kraken.
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How is being a lawyer different from the way you thought it would be?
Attorneys can become trusted advisors; that sometimes adds crisis management to their role. When the COVID-19 pandemic started, I became involved in multiple conversations to ensure that my clients’ programs kept going when everything was shut down. That included many late-night conversations responding to new and urgent emergencies, even if the emergency wasn’t specifically a legal issue.
How did you become interested in your practice area?
My interest in Indian law started in law school when I went to the National Native American Law Students Association Moot Court Competition. What drew me to the area was its wide range of topics as well as a personal desire to serve a historically marginalized community. Tribal communities have legal needs ranging from prosecuting their criminal laws to complex loan/business transactions for tribal development programs. That range meant that something new and different can always walk through the door.
My municipal practice comes from a desire to serve. I am lucky to work for a firm that is able to assist multiple cities in the area with their legal needs.
How do you define success as a lawyer?
Success is when my clients show me that they trust me and value my advice; when I am proud of my work because I know it is well researched, accurate, and represents my best effort to achieve the goal at hand, whether that is communicating something to a colleague, client, or opposing counsel, or attempting to persuade a court; or when I am able to go home and be fully present with my family because I know I have accomplished what I needed to at work. I try not to measure success in wins or losses (although I AM a lawyer and sometimes I can’t help it). I try to remind myself that success is an ongoing practice, rather than a single event.
What is your best piece of advice for someone who’s just entered law school?
That it’s OK to not take a course if the only reason for taking it is because the subject is tested on the bar exam. If you want to learn about secured transactions, then you should take the course. If you are only taking secured transactions because it might be on the bar exam, be reassured that your bar prep course will go over everything you need to know.
LIGHTNING ROUND
If you had to give a 10-minute presentation on one topic other than the law, what would it be and why? A presentation arguing that Bobby Ayala single-handedly kept the Mariners out of the 1996 playoffs, because I am still bitter about it.
What is your favorite smell? Petrichor: The smell of rain on a spring or summer day after some warmth.
What is your favorite podcast? For learning something, I prefer Behind the Bastards. For pure entertainment I love The Adventure Zone.
What book have you read more than once? I make it a point to reread The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich every four years.
What is the last thing you watched on television? Peaky Blinders.
What is the best fictional representation (TV, movie, book) of a lawyer? Jimmy McGee, aka Saul Goodman on Better Call Saul.
What is the worst movie you’ve ever seen? Cowboys & Aliens. It’s the only movie I’ve walked out of the theater on.
What is your best random fact that you would share with others at a party? I was one of the first 600 confirmed COVID-19 cases in the U.S.
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