Joe Koplin Attorney at Law

Joe Koplin was admitted to practice law in Washington in 1977 after graduating from The National Law Center at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. where he was a member of The GW Law Review. He discovered his passion for advocacy while in law school after representing the tenants in his apartment house before the D.C. Rent Control Commission. A trip to Seattle during his last year of law school led to his decision to relocate to the Seattle area following graduation. After passing the bar exam, Joe practiced for six years as a general practitioner in downtown Seattle, after which he spent a one year sabbatical living Japan where he studied intensive Japanese and worked for two different Tokyo law firms on issues related to Eurobond financing and international commercial transactions, but the clear high point of his stay in Japan was his tenure as the jazz trumpeter in a Japanese big band performing in and around Tokyo. Upon his return to Seattle in 1984, he joined Joseph A. Moschetto, Inc. with Marijean and her father, Joe.

For the past twenty years, Joe has specialized in personal injury claims, workers compensation claims, and chapter 7 and 13 consumer bankruptcy cases, as well as maintaining an active insurance subrogation practice. In the personal injury area, he has developed an expertise in the psychiatric dimensions of physical injuries, representing clients with "secondary" psychological injuries including reactive depression, post traumatic stress disorder, and various somatic disorders. Successful recoveries include two six-figure settlements in cases of clients who developed "conversion" disorders following relatively minor physical injuries, and more recently a seven figure settlement on behalf of a client seriously injured by a drunk driver (target defendants included the intoxicated driver's employer, the bar, and the hotel where the driver had earlier attended a corporate party). He has handled long term disability claims including chronic diseases including fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, Crohn's Disease, cerebrovacscular disease, and Heptatis C. He welcomes the challenge of mastering the medical aspects of his cases and takes pride in doing everything possible to ensure that his clients' injuries and illnesses are comprehensively diagnosed and treated in order to achieve the best possible recovery and quality of life.

Today, Joe concentrates exclusively on personal injury and disability claims, including social security disability and ERISA contract disability insurance claims. In addition to the Washington State Bar Association, his professional memberships include the Washington State Trial Lawyers Association (in which he holds an Eagle membership), the American Trial Lawyers Association, and the King County Bar Association through which he has served as Chair of the Public Information Committee for the past two years.

Joe lives in Kirkland with his wife and their teenage son. When not practicing law, Joe leads the Joe Koplin Jazz Quintet and Sextet on trumpet and flugelhorn, appearing regularly at some of the Seattle area's best known jazz venues, incuding Tulas, Grazies, and Patti Summers. See his personal jazz web page at http://www.tulas.com/artists/joekoplin.html

Joe Koplin Live!