Meet Simon H. Forgette
Born and raised in Seattle, Washington, Simon Forgette graduated from Seattle University and Gonzaga University School of Law. Mr. Forgette began his law career as a "JAG" trial lawyer in the United States Marine Corps. After serving as a defense counsel and a prosecutor, he was promoted to Chief Prosecutor for the First Marine Aircraft Wing in Japan. He was subsequently selected for the Navy-Marine Corps Judiciary and heard cases as a military judge throughout the Southwestern United States.
Mr. Forgette left active duty in the Marine Corps in 1980 to join a Seattle law firm. In 1982 the firm relocated to Kirkland and Mr. Forgette was made a partner. He started his own law firm, the Law Office of Simon H. Forgette, P.S. in Kirkland in 1990. Mr. Forgette has successfully handled numerous multi-million dollar cases. A representative list of some of those cases is provided on this web site.
For more than 25 years, Mr. Forgette's law practice has focused on representing victims of severe traumatic brain injury as well as victims of spinal cord injury and other serious injuries.
Mr. Forgette has had a long standing association with both state and national Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) organizations. He served on the Board of Directors of the Brain Injury Association in Washington D.C. (formerly known as the National Head Injury Foundation) for over ten years. In 1991 and 1992 he was the Chairman of the Board of the National Head Injury Foundation. He served on the Board of Directors of the Brain Injury Association of Washington from 1984 to 2007 and continues to serve as a consultant to that organization. Mr. Forgette has received numerous awards from state and national TBI associations for his dedication to the rights of TBI survivors and their families.
Mr. Forgette has also been recognized as a pioneer in teaching attorneys how to handle traumatic brain injury cases and other cases involving serious personal injuries. He created the programs and was the chairman of the first attorney seminar focused on traumatic brain injury in the state of Washington (1985) and nationally (1986). For more than 20 years he has continued to chair and lecture at state and national attorney seminars focused on successfully representing survivors of traumatic brain injury. He has also lectured internationally, (Oxford, England; Seville, Spain; Vancouver, Canada) regarding the American legal system and representing severely injured persons in that system.
Mr. Forgette is a member of the Washington State Bar Association, the bar of the Federal District Court for the Western District of Washington, the bar of the Supreme Court of the United States, the American Association for Justice, and the Washington State Association for Justice (Eagle member). Mr. Forgette stayed in the Marine Corps reserve after leaving active duty, eventually reaching the rank of Lt. Colonel.
Meet Janis Nevler:
Janis Nevler has been an associate attorney with Simon Forgette since 1983 representing severely injured plaintiffs. A Seattle native, Ms. Nevler is a graduate of the University of Washington and received her J.D. at the University of Puget Sound (now Seattle University School of Law). She is a member of the Washington State Bar Association and the Washington State Association for Justice.
Meet the Rest of Mr. Forgette's Team:
Simon Forgette's staff are caring and experienced legal professionals who have all worked with him for many years.
Patricia Pease
Patty has worked with Simon as a paralegal on major cases for more than twenty-five years.
Denise Weldon
Denise began her career as a paralegal in 1984. She has worked with Simon on a variety of personal injury cases for fifteen years.
Carol Hodovance
Carol has been a legal assistant and paralegal in the Kirkland area since 1982. She worked with Simon at his previous law firm for eight years and has been a member of Mr. Forgette's current firm for more than ten years.
Consultant
For the past twenty years Mr. Forgette has consulted on major cases with J. Murray Kleist. Although retired, Mr. Kleist has been a personal injury attorney handling catastrophic injury cases for more than forty years. During his long career Mr. Kleist on several occasions held the state record for the highest jury verdict. He has also served as president of the Washington State Trial Lawyers Association, now known as the Washington Association for Justice. Mr. Forgette has found that Mr. Kleist brings a valuable perspective to any case.
