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Jay Causey

Jay Causey  |  Emeritus/Retired Attorney

Jay Causey practiced for nearly 40 years in the field of workers’ compensation and disability law, including Washington State workers’ compensation claims, Social Security disability cases, Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Act cases, Defense Base Act claims, and maritime injury cases. In the last several years of his practice, Jay was invited by a broad array of plaintiff and defense lawyers and insurance carriers to mediate Longshore, Defense Base Act and other complex workers’ compensation cases. He retired from active representation of clients at the end of 2016, and converted his practice to perform this mediation work through Causey Mediation until the end of 2021. Causey Mediation enjoyed a high rate of success in bringing cases to resolution in Washington and a number of Western states.

Jay was one of a cadre of claimant lawyers involved in national workers’ compensation issues who founded the Workplace Injury Law & Advisory Group (WILG) in 1995. From its inception with fewer than twenty lawyers, WILG membership has grown to over 1100 attorneys, paralegals and other associates, and for years has been regarded as the principal national watchdog organization monitoring and defending the rights of injured and diseased workers. WILG has played a significant role in helping states resist changes to their workers’ compensation systems that reduce coverage and benefits and the rights of workers to pursue their claims through administrative and legal channels. Jay has served as a member of the WILG Board of Directors since 1995, served as its first vice-president (1995-1999) and its second president from 1999 to 2001, at which point he was the principal creator of WILG’s periodical magazine, Workers’ First Watch. He has been an editor of the magazine since its inception, stepping down from that duty in 2021.

Jay has been listed in “Best Lawyers in America” in workers’ compensation, has been named by Seattle Magazine as one of “Seattle’s Best Lawyers,” and has been recognized annually since 1998 as one of Washington’s “Super Lawyers.” In 2009 Jay was elected a fellow of the American Bar Association’s College of Workers’ Compensation Lawyers. In 2017, commemorating his retirement from practice, the Washington State Association for Justice presented Jay with the President’s Award: “In recognition for forty years of dedication to the cause of injured workers at the state and national levels.” In 2018, on the occasion of his retirement from official duties with WILG, the organization presented him with the Esther Weissman Eternal Optimism Award for his past service. He had previously been awarded WILG’s Lifetime Achievement Award.

Jay received his JD from the University Washington School of Law. He graduated from Yale University with a BA in history. He also served as an officer in the United States Marine Corps Reserve.

Two current Causey Wright employees, Kit Case and Monica Bell, have both worked under Jay’s tutelage for three decades. Brian Wright assumed ownership and management of the firm in 2017 after years of working with Jay. Our way of thinking, our systems, and our reputation were founded on the work of Jay Causey.

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