Law Office of Heidi L. Hunt

Lawyer Heidi Hunt

Heidi obtained her Associates of the Arts Degree from Edmonds Community College in 1997. Heidi obtained a Bachelors Degree in Law and Justice from Central Washington University in 1999, where she graduated Cum Laude. Later that year she was offered a partial scholarship to attend Gonzaga University School of Law.

Heidi moved to Spokane in 1999 and started law school later that fall. Heidi quickly caught Gonzaga Bulldogs fever, and she has battled it ever since. During 2000 and 2001, she interned at the Center for Law and Justice where she was able to begin representing clients. On her very first case, Heidi was able to find a problem with the law that was enacted to prosecute juvenile DUIs. This problem had the potential to affect all juvenile cases with similar facts, so the prosecutor offered her client a deal that was too good to refuse. The case was settled after oral arguments. In 2002, Heidi was one of only six people from the entire law school who was hand-picked by Speedy Rice to represent Gonzaga on their National Trial Team. She spent almost two hundred hours learning trial techniques from one of the greatest trial lawyers around. Although it was a lot of hard work, Heidi credits her experience with Speedy Rice as the key to her rapid success. 

Heidi obtained her Juris Doctorate from Gonzaga Law School in 2002. She took the first Bar Exam offered and passed. She was admitted to practice law on May 16, 2003. On June 6, 2003, Heidi opened her practice in Everett, Washington under the guidance of Tom Gissberg. Tom took Heidi under his wing and imparted in her decades of knowledge from both the legal aspect and simply that of life. He helped make Heidi's transition from student to lawyer about as easy as it could be. Heidi will forever be grateful for all of Tom's help. From 2004 to 2005 Heidi acted as a contract lawyer for the Snohomish County Office of Public Defense. In that capacity she was able to handle more than 500 cases. She utilized those cases to develop professional relationships with the local Prosecutors and Judges. She now has a wealth of experience to draw upon in just about any given circumstance. In October of 2005, Heidi expanded her practice. She moved her office to a larger building in Bothell, Washington near her home. That same month she began hiring a team of dedicated legal professionals. Thanks to a great number of referrals, and the hard work of her team, Heidi's practice keeps growing.

 Lawyer Cassandra Lopez de Arriaga

Cassandra grew up in the sunny suburbs of Los Angeles, California.  She chose  to pursue a career in law at the young age of six after seeing the movie “Inherit the Wind,” with Spencer Tracey.  Taking a short detour from that dream, she spent time after high school being a choreographer in Hollywood.  It was during the process of giving birth to her first child, her daughter Alexes, that it dawned on Cassandra that one day her child would ask her what she wanted to become when she grew up. It was at that moment that she decided to actively pursue a career in law.

It was not long before making the decision to get back into school that the Rodney King riots occurred (1993), burning down the Wilshire District neighborhood around Cassandra’s family home.  She and her husband Mike, decided to leave the state and with almost no money moved to the Pacific Northwest.  As soon as Cassandra established state residency she was admitted to the University of Washington.  On the day she started at UW, her youngest child, Mikey was six weeks old (1994).  Cassandra graduated in three years balancing both kids and school with her husband, Mike, who was also attending UW and working two jobs.

Cassandra and Mike decided to return to Los Angeles so Cassandra could attend Loyola Law School.  While in law school, Cassandra researched many Civil Rights issues for two prominent Los Angeles attorneys who taught at Loyola. While there she interned at Lambda Legal Defense Fund.  At the same time Cassandra helped coach her kids AYSO soccer teams and worked part-time as a server at the Ritz Carlton Huntington Hotel and Spa. Being trained in providing Five-Star service to dignitaries, Hollywood stars, and the business community, Cassandra has learned that service is an art and she prides herself in providing impeccable service to her clients.

After graduating from Loyola Law School in 2001, Cassandra, and her family moved back to Seattle for Mike to complete his undergraduate degree at University of Washington, which he put on hold for Cassandra to go to law school.  Cassandra studied for the bar while substitute teaching at Holy Names Academy. Cassandra passed the Washington State Bar Exam in 2003.

Before Cassandra could begin her first legal job, Mike was deployed to Iraq in February of 2003 with the 1^st Marine Division to spearhead Operation Iraq Freedom.  Cassandra stayed home to with her kids during the stressful and difficult time.  Months later Mike returned home safely and Cassandra began to work for a Civil Litigation firm in Seattle where she concentrated on construction defect cases. A couple of years later, feeling unsatisfied with the area of law she was working in, Cassandra accepted a position with the Whatcom Public Defender’s Office. She loved her job in Whatcom, enjoying practicing before Judge Grant, Judge Elich and Commissioner Parise.  A year later Cassandra accepted a job closer to home working for the Snohomish County Public Defender’s Association.  During the next three years with the Snohomish County Public Defender’s Association, Cassandra handled misdemeanor cases as well as felony class A, B, and C cases.  Cassandra made her mark when she tried eleven Superior court cases in one year.

When not fighting crime, Cassandra enjoys spending time with her family.  Her daughter, Alexes just graduated Holy Names Academy and is going to play soccer for the Naval Academy on a full ride scholarship. Cassandra's son goes to O’Dea High School.  Admittedly, Cassandra is a soccer mom, as both Alexes and Mikey play for Crossfire Premier.

 Lawyer James McKain

James is the working class son of a working class son.  He was born in Alaska, graduated high school in Alabama, and has lived just about everywhere in between.  James’ dad was in the Army so he moved around a lot when he was a kid.  As a matter of fact, until he was in high school there was never a year when he finished school the same place he had started.  Moving around so much made life difficult in some ways but provided significant advantages in others, for example it gave him the opportunity to learn how to interact with a lot of different people from a lot of different backgrounds.  Additionally, because his immediate family members were the only people that remained constant from birth through graduation he strongly felt the influence of his family.

James’ dad had many strong opinions that influenced James.   The strongest was a continuing love affair with the Constitution of the United States and an overwhelming sense of duty.  From a very early age James’ dad impressed upon him that, “It is the duty of the strong to protect the weak, to stand up and fight for those who cannot or will not fight for themselves.”  Because James shared his father’s opinions on the Constitution and on duty, he enlisted into the Army and served honorably in the infantry.  While in the service James served extensively in the Balkans, in the Middle East, in the Midwest, and throughout Western Europe.  He served in positions varying from automatic rifleman to squad leader and was privileged to work with some of the best men this country has ever produced.

While at Ft. Riley in Kansas, James met and fell in love with his fiancé Michelle Dawdy.  As he started thinking about starting a family of his own he realized that he wanted a different experience for his children than he had had growing up, not necessarily better or worse, just different.  Because James wanted his children to be able to have deeper roots than he had had growing up, because he knew how much time soldiers spend away from their families in deployment and training operations, and because he wanted to be present to watch his family grow up, James separated from the Army and tried to embrace a completely civilian life for the first time.

Transition to that completely civilian life presented some unexpected challenges.  Two of those challenges were extremely influential regarding his legal career.  First, James still shared his dad’s views on the constitution and on duty.   He still believed that he had a duty to fight for those who couldn’t fight for themselves.  Secondly, he held the belief that, while contracts may expire, oaths do not.  Since he took an oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States of America from all enemies foreign and domestic, he understood that oath to be a lifelong obligation.  Fortunately for him, James found that he could fight for people who could not fight for themselves AND support and defend the constitution through the practice of law.  After making that realization James zealously pursued a legal career.

James started that pursuit by becoming the first person in his family to receive a college degree.  He attended The University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas and was instantly admitted to the flock of Jayhawks.  James was a full time employee and a full time student as he studied psychology.  He was further privileged to represent KU on the ice as a member of the University of Kansas hockey team.  Playing hockey for KU was challenging for James, after all, he was not only a walk on to the team but he was about 10 years senior to most of his team mates.  Despite the age difference, James became a valuable member of the team not only for his contributions on the ice but also because he was always willing to do whatever needed to be done to help the team.

After completing his Bachelor’s degree, James attended The University of Kansas School of Law at Green Hall.  He focused his studies on Constitutional law, Constitutional issues, and Criminal law.  While still a student he was able to intern at the Paul E. Wilson Defender project, allowing him to gain invaluable criminal law experience and appellate experience.  James has worked for a big firm, several small firms, and a government agency.  James feels that he has found a home at the Law Offices of Heidi L. Hunt and has seen firsthand how passionate the team here is about taking care of its clients.  He looks forward to being just as passionate about taking care of your legal problems.