David James Robinson, Attorney at Law
Focus Areas
Estate Planning
You made promises to yourself and your loved ones during your life. Your estate plan is the memorialization of those promises.
Nonprofits
“Nonprofit” is a poor descriptor of what the nonprofit entity actually is. “Nonprofit” means that no profit will inure to its directors, members, employees, family members, and the like. It does not mean that there are no profits. In fact, if your “nonprofit” business doesn’t bring in profit, the business will be out of business along with the nonprofit mission. I serve on and represent 501(c)(3), (6), and (7) nonprofits.
Business Law
You’ve dreamed of owning your own business. Nurture that dream. Make a plan and follow a plan. I can help. I’m a business attorney and business owner.
I was born and raised in a factory town in upstate NY, a place in time where a person could leave high school and be certain to find a job in a manufacturing plant, buy a home, raise a family, and fund a retirement. It was only after I left for college and returned home that I saw firsthand that the assumptions we make about life, what we are told by the media and our elders, our expectations for the future, none of it is guaranteed and none of it can be left to chance. The economics of this country changed.
I earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology with a minor in philosophy. I viewed the law as the clearest way to help people and earned my Juris Doctor degree from Syracuse University while working full-time nights and weekends as a mental health counselor at a hospital.
After law school, I worked as a psychiatric counselor at St. Joseph’s Hospital, in Syracuse, NY. Those were good years. I did good work helping people from many cultures and socio-economic status. I served on the hospital’s ethics committee, weighing in on policy decisions and participating in critical incident evaluations. I performed my professional mental health duties in the hospital ED, inpatient mental health unit and in the community. Working in different areas of the hospital and with differing levels of professionals.
“I have learned to value customer service not as a ‘goal’ but as a method to reach all the other goals”
David James Robinson, Attorney at Law
When I decided that it was time to change careers from mental health to law, I also decided that it was time for a geographic change. In the summer of 2008, I left Syracuse, NY in a rusty Ford Explorer and headed west. Everything that was important to me fit in the back … and I could still see out the back window. I came here by way of N. Carolina, Tennessee, Arizona, and a bunch of stops along the way, all the while studying for the Oregon Bar Exam. Doesn’t every Portland transplant have a car story?
Portland has been good to me. All of my dreams have come true, maybe not on my schedule, but through hard work and determination, I have achieved everything I set out to do. I was admitted to practice law in October 2009. During the lean years of the 2008 recession, I had the opportunity to continue working in mental health for Central City Concern, a wonderful and powerful organization. I took every opportunity to volunteer my legal expertise to give back to this community. I took cases for Legal Aid Services and I worked in their Senior Law Clinics. I volunteered as a family lawyer for the St. Andrew Legal Clinic. I participated in environmental activism with Water Watch of Oregon. I served on two committees with the Multnomah Bar Association: The Young Lawyers Section and the MBA Group Insurance Committee. I served as a volunteer clerk with the Oregon Tax Court, Magistrates’ Division. I was elected to serve on the Oregon Bar House of Delegates and Solo and Small Firm Executive Committee.
In the community, I am a member of the City Club of Portland and I spent two years as the chair of their Business and Prosperity Issue Forum. I serve on several nonprofit boards, including various business chambers of commerce, food shares, and the Oregon Coast Community College Foundation.
“As a lawyer, it does neither me nor my clients’ any good if I help create a business that ends up failing. I want to be your lawyer five years down the road when it’s time to expand, replace equipment, and acquire property. I want to be your lawyer twenty years down the road when it’s time to sell the business or pass the business on to the next generation.”
David James Robinson, Attorney at Law
When I’m not at the work, I’m on a sailboat or walking on trails with the dogs. Call me. Let’s meet for coffee and we’ll talk, we’ll share some wisdom. I like people and I like solving puzzles. My goal is to create for you a plan that increases your wealth and maximizes your sense of security and preparedness throughout your working life.