Law firm looks to the future

As business in Utah has evolved, Parsons Behle & Latimer has adapted with it.

The law firm recently celebrated the 125th anniversary of its creation in 1882, marking how times have changed since the early days when mining was its bread and butter.

The evolution of technology and advent of the information age have propelled the firm to diversify from its mining law roots into areas that include commercial litigation, real estate and the environment. With more than a century behind the firm, President Ray Etcheverry said he expects it to remain one of the premier firms in the West.

Hal Pos, vice president, and Etcheverry said the firm increasingly handles global warming and global climate change cases, which Etcheverry said is a relatively unexpected development.

"But all of the sudden within the last two years, and certainly the last 12 months, that has become a topic that now is at the forefront of many business entities either directly or indirectly, and so we're looking for opportunities there."

The firm began developing what is now one of the West's largest environmental practices in the 1970s and now has some of the highest-rated water law experts in the nation.

"(Water) will obviously become, I think, a hotter and hotter topic as the allocation of that resource has to be made, both here and in Nevada," Etcheverry said.

The firm's environmental team provided counsel for the U.S. and international committees for the 2002 Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City. Pos said the firm worked to reduce emissions elsewhere to make up for increased emissions during the Games.

The efforts were successful, he said. "I think it's widely been viewed as the most environmentally friendly Olympics, both summer and winter, of any of the Olympic Games." Pos added that other Olympics committees have contacted the firm to gather ideas for their own Games.

The firm also handled employment law, reviewed contracts and handled construction disputes, among other things, for businesses and other entities prior to, during and after the Games.

Many of the firm's recent cases have involved patents and trade secrets. Etcheverry said intellectual property is a large area of litigation.

In the future, the firm also expects to work with more health-care issues as the baby boomer generation gets older, Pos said. He said he sees land use and transportation issues growing, and a promising future in litigation and environmental and natural resource issues.