Ms. Buchanan is a shareholder at Lee Smart. She practices both professional and general liability defense with emphasis on employment, municipality, and school law. Ms. Buchanan's areas of expertise include whistleblower retaliation, civil rights, Title VII, Title IX, FMLA, all forms of discrimination, sexual harassment, wrongful termination, constructive discharge, negligent hire and supervision, implementing and drafting employer policies and handbooks, defamation, handicap accommodation, COBRA compliance and violations, collective bargaining grievance procedures, personal injury, premises liability and breach of contract. Ms. Buchanan has litigated in both state and federal courts and has appeared before appellate courts including the Court of Appeals and Supreme Court of Washington and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. She has represented municipality interests at the administrative level including proceedings before the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), Public Employment Relations Commission (PERC), Office of Civil Rights (OCR) and the Washington State Human Rights Commission (HRC).
Ms. Buchanan is a 1987 graduate of the University of Washington with a Bachelor's degree in Political Science. She obtained her J.D. in 1990 from the University of Oregon Law School. She is a member of the Washington State Bar Association, American Bar Association, King County Bar Association, Washington Women's Lawyers, Northwest Women's Initiative for Education, Defense Research Institute, the Washington Council of School Attorneys (WCOSA) Board of Directors,
Special Deputy Prosecuting Attorney for Lewis County,
and several ad hoc committees.
The Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory conferred a "AV" rating on Ms. Buchanan and she has been rated as one of Washington’s "Rising
Star" attorneys by Law & Politics Magazine. Ms. Buchanan
routinely lectures on matters within her practice area. |
