About Oliver Spencer

Oliver Spencer

Oliver Spencer

Oliver Spencer is a Seattle estate planning lawyer, Seattle real estate lawyer, and Seattle landlord-tenant lawyer. He has twenty-one years of experience as an attorney practicing in these areas of the law. He has also volunteered as a mediator for disputes in the King County District Court's Small Claims Court in Seattle for landlord-tenant, commercial, construction, towing, breach of contract, personal injury, and merchant-consumer disputes, and is a graduate of the King County Dispute Resolution Center's Mediation Practicum.  He serves as a volunteer mediator for the King County Dispute Resolution Center and has mediated landlord-tenant disputes at the Center.

He was born and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio. He attended Walnut Hills High School. He graduated Cum Laude from the Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio. He majored in journalism and double minored in French language and Asian Studies. After undergraduate school he worked as a newspaper and magazine reporter for SESH Communications in Cincinnati, Ohio, before moving to Seattle to attend the University of Washington School of Law. He is one of the founding members of the Center for Human Rights and Justice at the University of Washington School of Law.

He worked as an attorney for K&L Gates, LLP, formerly Preston, Gates & Ellis, LLP and Bank of America, Probate And Wealth Transmission Department in Seattle, Washington. He worked as an attorney for the Law Offices of James Deal, the Law Offices of David Reed, and the Law Offices of Ricardo Vazquez in Seattle, Washington. He worked for the Law Offices of Stanley Byrd and the Law Offices of Kathryn Ellis in Seattle, Washington. He worked for Landesa, formerly the Rural Development Institute, University of Washington Student Legal Services, and the Northwest Indian Law Center at Northwest Justice Project in Seattle, Washington. He worked for General Electric Aircraft Engines, Legal Operation, Dinsmore & Shohl, LLP, the Ohio Justice & Policy Center, formerly the Prison Reform Advocacy Center, the Office of former Cincinnati Vice Mayor Tyrone Yates, and the Law Offices of Stephen Felson in Cincinnati, Ohio. His free time is spent with his family and friends. He enjoys swimming, tennis, hiking, film, theater, music, news, books, writing, and the study of language. He has language abilities in English, Spanish, French, Mandarin Chinese, and Latin.

He studied French language and culture at the Institute of Touraine in Tours, France. He was a Capitol Scholar from the State of Ohio at the Office of the Corporation Counsel, General Litigation Division, in Washington, D.C. He received the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office Scholarship from the Ministry of Education of the Government of Taiwan to study Mandarin Chinese at Taiwan Normal University (Shi Da) in Taipei, Taiwan.

Bar Admissions and Associations

  • Washington State Bar Association
  • King County Bar Association
  • Snohomish County Bar Association
  • King County Bar Association, Real Property, Probate, And Trust Law Section
  • King County Bar Association, Alternative Dispute Resolution Section
  • King County Bar Association, Solo And Small Practice Section
  • King County Dispute Resolution Center
  • Loren Miller Bar Association
  • Legal Voice, formerly Northwest Women's Law Center
  • Washington State Bar Association, Young Lawyers Division, Trial Advocacy Program Planning Committee
  • City of Seattle, Meal Program Transition And Coordination Task Force
  • Instructor, Summer Camp, Lekha School of Creative Writing, San Jose, California
  • King County Bar Association, Lawyer Referral Service Committee
  • Former Planning Team Member, King County Bar Association, Alternative Dispute Resolution Section
  • Former Co-Chair, King County Bar Association, Ethnic Diversity In The Legal Profession Committee
  • New Vision United Methodist Church, Cincinnati, Ohio
  • Alumni Ambassador, University of Washington School of Law
  • Mentorship Program, Mentor, University of Washington School of Law
  • Mentorship Program, Mentor, Seattle University School of Law
  • Mentorship Program, Mentor, Loren Miller Bar Association
  • Judicial Evaluation Committee, Loren Miller Bar Association
  • King County Bar Association, Diversity Committee
  • King County Bar Association, Future of the Law Institute Committee
  • Member, Walnut Hills High School, Class Of 1994, 30th Reunion Planning Committee, Cincinnati, Ohio

Education

  • Bachelor of Science, Journalism, Cum Laude, Ohio University, Athens, Ohio
  • Juris Doctorate, University of Washington School of Law, Seattle, Washington

Speeches and Presentations

  • Presentation, Facilitator, Washington State Bar Association, Washington Young Lawyers Division, Trial Advocacy Program
  • Presentation, landlord-tenant law, Youth And The Law Forum
  • Presentations, solo and small firm practice, University of Washington School of Law