Chris represents injured workers in all aspects of Oregon Workers’ Compensation claims. Because of the nature and complexity of this area of law, she limits her practice to only workers’ compensation to increase her mastery of this highly regulated and increasingly complicated system. While all attorneys specializing in Workers’ Compensation on behalf of injured workers must have a high volume of clients to be sustainable, her practice model is to maximize value in claims, employ staff to ensure our clients’ needs are met, and have a case load that allows for the highest quality representation.

Chris grew up in Kansas and graduated from the University of Kansas in 1985. She has worked in a variety of jobs including waitress, hummingbird-feeder assembler(!), and grocery clerk. In 1992, Chris graduated from the University of Oregon School of Law, where she helped found the Oregon Law Students’ Public Interest Fund, was a member of the Law Review, and earned the American Jurisprudence Award in Trial Practice. Before joining the firm in 2008, she was a staff attorney for the Workers’ Compensation Board for two years.

She chose to work at Thomas, Coon, Newton & Frost, because of its tradition of excellent legal work and community activism. Here she has been able to bring her strong commitment to the rights of working people and her passion for justice together to represent injured workers in Oregon’s Workers’ Compensation system.

Chris is a strong advocate and fighter for her clients but also strives to make the system fairer for all injured workers. She is active with OTLA’s Workers’ Compensation policy group, an executive committee member of the Workers’ Compensation section of the Oregon State Bar, and a Board member of NW Workers Justice Project. Chris is honored to have received the 2014 Doug Swanson Outstanding Workers’ Compensation Attorney Award from the Oregon Trial Lawyers Association.