Nicole G. Gainey

With nearly a decade of experience, attorney Nicole Gainey is known for her dogged pursuit of the truth. She is passionate about bringing justice to clients who have been sexually harassed or discriminated against at work. She strives to bring attention to, and stop, the abhorrent abuses of power that still take place in Washington State’s workplaces every day. Ms.  Gainey understands the traumatic events that lead her clients to seek her legal services and she is compassionate and responsive in her advocacy. Her past clients describe her as honest, hands on, and thorough - a phenomenal communicator who listens and understands before taking action. She is trusted not only to advocate on her client’s behalf but to take care to keep them informed and involved throughout their case. For her diligent work on behalf of plaintiffs in employment law cases she has been selected as a Rising Stars honoree for 2021-2023 and is rated Superb by Avvo.

After graduating from the University of Washington with her Bachelor of Arts degree, Ms. Gainey spent many years helping her community through affiliations with a plethora of social organizations, and as a small business owner, before finding her calling in the law. She enrolled at the Seattle University School of Law and received her Juris Doctor with honors in 2014. The same year, she obtained her license to practice in the state of Washington.

During her time in law school, Ms. Gainey was a star student academically, as she was awarded the CALI Excellence for the Future Award in Professional Responsibility and received the Presidential Law Scholarship. She was also highly active within her campus, co-founding the Food Law Integrity Coalition and being a part of the Women’s Law Caucus, the Gender and Justice Commission and Phi Alpha Delta. She served as a legal intern at the Felony level for both the King County Office of Public Defense and the King County Prosecutors' Office. She also worked on childhood sex abuse cases with the law firm of Kosnoff Fasy.

After graduating from law school, Ms. Gainey sought out knowledge and experience to bolster her strong legal foundation. She worked with more experienced attorneys to gain insight and litigation experience. She served as a part-time attorney at the Washington State Office of Public Defense, where she helped defend the rights of parents whose children were in the custody of DCYF. More important than the courtroom experience she gained, was the opportunity to use her empathy to drive herself to give her clients the zealous advocacy they deserved, and in some cases the reunification they sought.

When not advocating for her clients’ rights, Ms. Gainey maintains memberships to prominent legal organizations such as:

• The American Association for Justice
• The Washington State Association for Justice (member of the Interpersonal Violence Litigation Group; Eagle Member)
• The American Bar Association
• The Washington Employment Lawyers Association
• The King County Bar Association (member of the Labor and Employment Law Section)
• The National Employment Lawyers Assocation

Moreover, she is rooted to her strong beliefs of always helping others, and she accomplishes this by volunteering her time with organizations like the Fair Work Center and the Housing Justice Project. She regularly helps other trial attorneys conduct focus groups and mock trials in preparation for trial. She is also a foster parent for PAWS.